“Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all” (Psalm 34:19).

The Promises of God By Vernon Gray “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God” (2 Corinthians 3:5). “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work” ( 2 Corinthians 9:8). EVERYTHING THAT WE NEED OR COULD NEED IS IN CHRIST JESUS. JESUS IS SUFFICIENT! “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof” (Matthew 6:33, 34). “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” ( Ephesians 1:3). We have all things NOW. However everything we need is there on God’s timetable, not on ours. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). If we are to “know” that all things are working together for our benefit, there is another principle that we need to assimilate into our thinking. The born-again person is primarily a spiritual being. We are creatures that the Holy Spirit has sealed as “heavenly.” We belong in heaven, and our home is not here on this earth; our home is the Father’s House. Essentially we are ambassadors, sojourners and pilgrims in transit to our true home, which is in heaven. Therefore… A. WE HAVE A HEAVENLY CALLING. “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus” (Hebrews 3:1). B. WE ARE AMBASSADORS. “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us…” (2 Corinthians 5:20). C. WE ARE SOJOURNERS AND PILGRIMS. “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and fellow pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul” (1 Peter 2:11). D. WE ARE CITIZENS OF HEAVEN. “Now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God” (Ephesians 2:19). Although we are here on this earthly plane, we are nonetheless heaven-bound. We are spiritual beings, housed in a physical body; we live our earthly lives on a planet that is claimed (by default) by the sworn enemy of God. In comparison to heavenly blessings, there are relatively few earthly blessings or promises for the “born-again” in the Bible. This may seem odd, because we are to live here until either we are called home, or until we are raptured . There are, however, blessings of a spiritual nature that are all encompassing, and far superior to the temporal blessings of the kingdom message. Read carefully what Paul says… “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ.” (Ephesians 1:3). You will notice that these blessings are not “through” Christ, but “in” Christ. To have greater blessings than these is difficult to imagine. BUT NOW! How do these spiritual blessings in heavenly places apply to us in the here and now? The answer is actually quite simple, we are spiritual beings, and everything we do is a reflection of who we are in Christ. Everything we do should be done “as unto the Lord,” (Colossians 3: 23) and we cannot be separated from who we are in Christ. We are “full time” in Christ and therefore we are all in “full time” ministry no matter what your station in life is. When we are at work, we are spiritual beings at work in the flesh. (Christ in us, as us.) When we are parenting, we are still spiritual beings performing a human task. (Christ in us, as us.) When we are sick or needy, we remain spiritual beings living in a fleshly body that is in need of healing or restoration. (Christ in us, as us.) When we are performing the function of a husband or a wife, we are expressing spiritual truths through our very lives. We remain still, spiritual beings. (Christ in us, as us.) In everything that we do here on this earth, we are expressing heavenly truths through the Christ in us. To be blessed with ALL spiritual blessings in heavenly places, is by far superior to being blessed with temporal or earthly blessings such as those found in the kingdom message. “Spiritual blessings in heavenly places” include every aspect of our lives here on this earth. If you are sick, or in trouble of any kind, if you are in need of money or work, ALL these temporal things are included in the blessings that are yours in Christ. Your temporal life here on earth is an extension of who you are in Christ. God makes no difference between your earthly life and your spiritual life: God sees you as He created you to be, you as a unique person with Christ as your life. We can learn a great lesson from what Jesus taught the disciples in Matthew 6:25 -34. “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet you heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you from worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed as one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” The temporal things of this life are given to us in order to teach us Christ; to bring us to the knowledge of Christ in us, and to be used as a learning tool. The enemy has great pleasure in turning that which is for our tuition into that which is to be fretted and worried about. Every trial has its negative and positive side; depending on how we view it. Worry diverts our attention to the negative of any circumstance or situation. “Be anxious for nothing…” (Philippians 4:6). “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God” (2 Corinthians 3:5). “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8). Our heavenly calling as believers is emphasized throughout the New Testament… “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God” (Colossians 3:1). “…and raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 2:6). Paul was in prison chained to a Roman guard, (Acts 28: 20 and 2 Timothy 1:16) yet he did not rebuke the devil or perform some “spiritual warfare.” Paul did not resign in defeat because he lacked the faith to get out of his situation. On the contrary, Paul’s chains became a symbol of victory because he saw through the circumstance to what God was accomplishing in his life. Paul was not ashamed of his chains, nor was he deterred in doing what God had instructed him to do; his chains only re-enforced his resolve, and magnified God’s purpose for his life. “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all” (Psalm 34:19). God is the master of hijacking the worst of our trials, and the darkest of our fears for His glory and for our ultimate good. You have no need for earthly blessings or promises, because every aspect of your life in the flesh is included in whom you are in Christ. The only blessings you now need as the born-again, are those blessings already given to you by the Father; namely, “every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ.” TO TRY AND LIVE BY OR CLAIM ANYTHING LESS IS FOOLISHNESS. Consider this verse from 2 Corinthians 4:11 “For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.” And Colossians 1:24 “I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body which is the church.” Vernon Gray. grayworxx@gmail.com